Additional NI Software Idea Exchange

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I had to manually enter the properties of 25 frames and their signals (at an average of ~5 signals per frame). That's not fun, especially since many of them were similar.

 

The process would be a lot faster if I can clone the frames/signals and just edit the fields that differ.

 

xnet_pain.png

 

I'd like a way to select/deselect dependencies that get sent to the target upon deployment. I understand that all dependencies are necessary for a project to run. However, I deploy one system definition to many targets, and often there are very minor changes that don't need a transfer of all the dependencies which takes time. Also, the fact that the default is to transfer all dependencies means I need to keep every computer updated and sync'd or else a deployment could fail. I'd like the ability to manage which dependencies to transfer and potentially overwrite. Thank you.

For download of updates from ni.com such as the device drivers (http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/3145/lang/en/rating/1) NI recommends to use the NI Downloader.

 

First suggestion: Fine, but the Download tool should download all the relevant files in one operation.

Not as of now where you have to download one NI Download program for each of the (here two) "DVD's" and execute each of them to get both install images downloaded. It is error prone, tedious and requires additional installation instructions.

 

Second suggestion: Give the user an option to keep the download in one big file. I think it is very few users who actually need the files to fit on a space restricting storage medium. As a note I see from the latest LV2012 downloads that some of the installation distribution files are more than 8GB. 8GB would easily hold the device drivers (as of 2012Smiley Wink) so there is actually no need in this particular case to span two media.

 

ni downloader.png

Provide an option to show more characters in the IO section (in quotes) of the Description field.  Why not use the column separator as a way to expand the viewable characters, instead of just showing more white space?

 

IO Trace expanded Description characters.PNG

 

Posted this in Data Acquisition Ideas as well, but it seems like it would be implemented with something like MAX, so...

 

When dealing with various remotely deployed cRIO hardware configurations, it may be impossible to keep a sample configuration of every type of system we ever sell.  Unfortunately, if upgrades or revisions are made to the base code in our system, remotely deploying to our customers becomes impossible unless we have their exact configuration on-hand for the programmers to compile.  Remote connection to the hardware for this type of operation is also not typically possible.

 

To be able to simulate or emulate a full cRIO system (processor & hardware modules), then compile the RT code for deployment on that system as if it is physically connected to our development system would be ideal.  This would allow images to be created, which can be sent to customers for local deployment at their facility.  Dramatic decrease in "hardware library" requirements on the development end, reduction in "on-site upgrade" service trip costs to the customers.  Plus, easier for OEMs like me to justify the move away from PLC types of hardware and towards cRIO, once you take away some of the potentially nightmarish continued support and update issues involved with basing systems on cRIO platforms.

The VeriStand System Definition API allows you to edit a definition file. While it is mostly used as an offline API, it is also often used in custom devices code, notably thanks to the Item Reference to Pointer function that gives your access to the SystemStorage namespace, an internal representation of the SystemDefinitionAPI.

 

Unfortunately, there's a hiccup with that. If you want to edit existing nodes in your system definition, it works. If you want to add/remove nodes or sections (say, automatically add an alarm when you add a given custom device channel), the underlying API calls will work but you can't see the modifications in the System Definition tree: my alarm won't show up in the tree although it exists in memory. You'll have to manually save and reopen the *.nivssdf file for that. This can't be a decent workaround for end users.

 

Would NI R&D be nice enough to provide us with a public function that refreshes the tree (or parts of it if we feed the node reference)?

 

--Eric

 

Nb: I currently have a working solution, in case anyone urgently needs this feature.

 

I created a VI and wrote the description thinking I will retrieve it later in Veristand but it is not the case.

I have to copy and paste it into Veristand.

 

It would be nice to have teh direct copy.

Hello,

 

I am using MAX in all projects to define channels and create tasks.

Functionality that I think should be added:

- Drag and drop channels to reorder them ( there is no way to do that now...)

- Ability to create subfolders and group channels inside them like Ai AO DI DO CO.

- Ability to sort and search

- When i import channels from ini file to max, order of globl virtual channels should be equal to what is defined in ini file.

 

 

max.png

Currently licenses use the sort key word within a server's license file to specify the priorotized check out of similar software products ( a preference to check out DIAdem professional over DIAdem Advanced for example when a user has permissions for both).  With concurrent licenses, right clicking on a software product from a client's License Manager application and selecting the Do not Allow License Request from the context menu as shown below will also bring about this functionality.

 

Without a set preference, sometimes two licenses are checked out, and this is a known issue:

 

DIAdem is double-checked out from VLA when several versions are licensed

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-Applications-Engineers/DIAdem-is-double-checked-out-from-VLA-when-several-versions-are/td-p/2139600

 

Do Not Allow License Request for Concurrent License

 

Concurrent.png

 

 

 

Sort Keyword Within a Server's License File

 

ServerLicense.png

 

 

 

My suggestion is that we create a way within VLM to modify the server's *.lic file (by changing sort key word's value) to reflect software check out priority.  Currently this change can be made by manually modifying the sort value in the server's *.lic file.  This works since the server's license doesn't need to be resigned after said modification.  However, it would be nice if this change could be made through the VLM user interface and the *.lic file would be modified behind the scenes.

 

 

Feel free to comment or Kudo!

 

Cheers!

 

Shawn S.

Hello Folks,

 

As a developer, I use to have several screens for Test data display, Manual panel, Model execution control panel, etc. As per to the operator any screen other than Test data display is unnecessary.

 

It will be really good, if we could include the Screen selection in the "User Accounts Manager" with respect to the users like shown below

 

Operator options.PNG

This option lets the administrator to select the specific screens whichever is necessary for the operator.

 

 

-SID

 

 

Now you can't drag&drop to move sequence files in Project Explorer. To workaround this, you have to add files under folders after creating folders. The way to workaround is time-consuming.

 

Thanks,

 

Saku

 

image.png

There should be an option in MAX to be able to show remote systems by hostname, OR by IP address.  

 

hostname.pngOR  IP_address.png

 

When managing several targets it can be very hard to keep track of which target has which IP address and it is incredibly tedious to look through every target to determine it's individual IP address.

For some reason you can only set the time zone of your PAC from NI Max...if you need to adjust the date or time you need to run a VI in LabVIEW or build an app (!!). Neiter intuitive nor practical...

 

Add a time setting function in NI Max so that anyone with NI Max can adjust the clock without having to touch the code that runs on it. That's how people expect it to work.

NI TSM installs the attached code for simulating chassis and modular instruments that don't already have simulation plugins to MAX provided with their drivers.  There's no reason I can tell that this functionality should be limited to NI TSM given that modular instruments are used outside of TSM (and TestStand) all the time.  Please add this simulation capability to NI MAX!

Download All

As of today, the newest version of the NI Volume License Manager 3.1.2 supports following OS; Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2 64-​bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-​bit.

It would be more convenient if it supports Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019.

 

I was thinking for very large systems that use the same channel configuration for multiple channels on the system configuration can be very tedious. A work around for this is the API to build a system definition file but for those customer's with limited or no LabVIEW or .NET experience this isn't valid. 

 

Since we can test the IO channels in MAX by creating tasks for all of our hardware I would like to add the ability to pull the configuration information from a task we've created in MAX and apply them to our channels in VeriStand. So in stead of setting MIN, MAX, input configuration, shunt resistor location and value for 100 channels I can configure it in one location (MAX) and apply the settings to all my Current Channels. Task configuration.PNG

The other issue is if the channel doesn't support all the configurations from each page then we need to contact NI support to add functionality. Recently I worked with a LVDT sensor for a SCXI chassis. This allows customers to have an instant workaround rather than having for NI to allocate resources to update the page.

 

Current VeriStand.PNG

 

By adding MAX task to act as the template for our channels we can edit the parameters for all channels of the same setup from one location (MAX) vs each individual page. This also allows you to test individual channels instantly in MAX to make sure the configuration is valid without resolving other errors across the whole system definition.

MAX Task for VeriStand.PNG

 

Again this is more for deployments where they have 100s of channel similarly configured where configurating each channel is tedious but they are not unique.

Hello,

 

It would be nice to be able to control the stimulis from a workspace screen.

 

It would be nice to had a control like this ...

 

 

Capture.PNG

 

The stimulus list could be filled according to the content of a Project directory. (Project Root / Stimulis )

 

Thanks.

 

Manu.net

Whenever I delete a signal (whether it's a custom device, user channel, calculated channel, etc.), VeriStand goes through to delete that signal from anything referencing it. This is often nice but at times undesirable because I may plan to add it back again at a later time with a new custom device with the same signal names, for example. The auto deletion of all references means that I'd need to go back to relink all of the broken references even if the missing signal gets restored later anyway. Some of my channels are used in 20+ places.

 

I'd like to see VeriStand prompt me or give me an option as to whether I want to delete all references. If I choose not to delete the reference, I understand that an error will show up later if I try to deploy or run. Thanks.

I have a system definition of over a thousand signals. I see that VeriStand 2011 has some search functionality built in. Is there a way to search not just ni the channel names but for the use of particular variables within calculated channels? For example, if I have UserVar1, I'd like to be able to find all occurrences of where UserVar1 is used. It could be an argument in a Calculated Channel, a mapping destination, an alias, etc. Is there a search tool that can accomplish this? Thanks.

Hello,

 

Many times, I find myself wanting to compare different I/O traces side-by-side, but I can only have one instance of I/O Trace in memory and hense can only view one capture at a time.  Would it be possible to view two different captures within one instance of I/O Trace?  I believe a lot of people would appreciate either a split screen option or the ability to open another instance of the I/O Trace application in memory.

 

Cheers!

 

Shawn S.